Biofuels in Goa
The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 stipulates that Fifteen Billion gallons of conventional biofuels such as crops of corn, sugar cane and wheat, be produced in 2015 under the Renewable Fuel Standards . The 15 billion gallons will have 20% less life cycle emissions than that of gasoline according to the EPA. At the time the Bill was written, the conventional biofuel was corn ethanol. While I was staying at a Goa luxury hotel, I read that a newly proposed ruling recently released, shocked many by declaring that currently corn ethanol was only 16 percent better.
Only 16% better? That’s not much of an alternative. Much of the low estimate results came from an indirect land use statistics base. This does account for previous uncultivated land being brought into production of the produced biofuels (displaced food). This appears to be a good development since the effects have the potential to have a huge impact and have a giant 2-by-4 whack the heads of an ailing biofuel industry. If the Act is strictly enforced it will mean all current corn ethanol production will not satisfy the current 10.5 billion gallon ethanol requirements. The National Biofuel Board released a statement shows how this might just play out. “There are things that could be done to make corn-based ethanol more sustainable”.
So basically, the ethanol industry will need to clean up its act. This can and will be accomplished by using a more sustainable land management; switching to a cleaner fuel, including natural gas) for the distillation process. So, right now, all I can do at this point is wait and watch how the ethanol industry will handle this new ruling. Will they clean up their act? Or will they become more and more dependent on the government for assistance. I put my money on the latter and hope that we all win.
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